Napier, New Zealand

Bob went to breakfast while I worked on the blog.
I also had a moment to give my cousin, Tamra, a call to inquire about my step-father's memorial service. She let me know that it was a very nice service and that it was great to see everyone. I am very sorry that I missed the service and have not been able to give my mother a hug.

The ship arrived in Napier at noon.

We went to lunch early as we had to be in the Star Theatre for a 12:25 PM departure.

Our excursion for today was Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony. Cape Kidnappers received its name from Captain Cook. On one of Captain Cook's voyages, he had included in his staff two interpreters in order to be able to communicate with the Maori. When the Maori saw 2 dark skinned people on the Endeavor, they assumed that Captain Cook had kidnapped them. The Maori decided to kidnap them back. They were successful in getting one of the interpreters off the Endeavor. Captain Cook then fired on the Maori killing them. Captain Cook was able to rescue his interpreter.

Our tour began with a brief tour of Napier. The city of Napier experienced a devastating earthquake in 1931. As a result, the most of the building in Napier are of the art deco style. These buildings have been listed as historic buildings so they continue to be preserved.

After driving through downtown Napier, we began our drive to Cape Kidnapper. We had just left Napier when Bob's seatmate decided that Bob's shoulder was a excellent place to nap. We find that as soon as we get in a vehicle and it begins to move, it is like Pavla's Bell. For this population, it means naptime. Another need for the Neptune's guest is frequent comfort stops. So, we made a brief restroom stop at the Gannet Safari's office because we would be in a remote area for 2.5 hours.

Next, we passed through a gate and entered a cattle/sheep station which also has a very exclusive resort and golf course. The resort was beautiful. We were told that the green fees for this course is $1,000. Definitely beyond our budget for green fees.

A portion of the cattle/sheep station and the adjoining property have developed into a conservation area where effort are being made to remove non-native predators of native birds. The importation of non-native predators is a huge problem for the kiwi species because they cannot fly. It is estimated that there were once about 12 million kiwi, but by 1998 the population had plummeted to fewer than 100,000 birds. By 2008 that figure had fallen even further, to about 70,000. Today it’s estimated there are around 68,000 kiwis left and unmanaged kiwi populations continue to decline by 2% every year. The conservation efforts in the Cape Kidnappers area has been very successful in increasing the number of Kiwi. Due to limited area in Cape Kidnappers that is good habitat for the Kiwi birds, this area has now reached capacity for Kiwi population. Consequently, they are now relocating Kiwi to re-populate other areas.

As we came to Gannet colony, the entire bus said a collective, "Wow". We watched the birds for about 30 minutes before returning to the Gannet Safari office where we were treated to an excellent snack.

We then drove back to the ship. We were greeted at the ship with 1930's area music and a display of automobiles with their owners dressed in period attire.
The ship departed shortly after our return.

We enjoyed a glass of wine on our balcony while watching the sail away. We were able to observe the gannet from the water as they were fishing.

Since we spent so much time on our balcony, we were late getting to the World Cafe so the two of us ended up having dinner on the Aquavit Terrace.

Although we would have liked to have more time in downtown Napier, overall it was a great day.

You all may be wondering what is happening with our blog as you get notification of a post. I start the post on my phone during our tour. I make quick notes. In order to transfer my notes, I have to post it on my phone. I then edit it on the computer. At times I have not had an opportunity to process/download photos, so I have to post the footprint and edit it later. I will try to be better about having all information ready before I post/edit the footprint.Read more